Microsoft Lumia sales come crashing down at minus 81%

Microsoft's financials for Q4 2016 paint a gloomy picture for the Lumia brand. Its official report reveals that Redmond's phone revenue is down 81% from the year before. Back then, Microsoft sold about 4.5 million Lumia phones, which means they have sold less than a million units between October and December last year. That's despite the many deals and discounts that underscored whatever's left of Microsoft's efforts at selling smartphones.

Still, the company hasn't given up on smartphone-related activities. It patents cutting-edge concepts such as foldable devices, and is rumored to be developing a long-awaited Surface phone, in addition to working on assorted Android and iOS apps that are generally well-received. MS is also big on machine learning, natural language processing (think Cortana), and entertaining technology like HoloLens. So even if its smartphones never end up capturing significant market share, Microsoft will have ways of staying relevant in the mobile technology industry.

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So 850 thousand WP/W10 mobile devices for 3 months, and during the peak holiday season. Dam, they can't even give them away. I saw a Lumia 550 for $28 on sale. Where are all the Windows Phone users singing and praising Microsoft's mobile platform now? Maybe the converted over to another more viable and robust platform.

I picked up a Lumia 650 for about $80 USD during Black Friday sales. So far I've had a positive experience with it. Everything works, the design is nice, and the UI is smooth enough. While it could use a little more horsepower under the hood it punches well above it's weight for the price I paid for it. It may not have every app available to it but the ones I've tried have all worked well. Or maybe I'm just easy to please ;)

I'm guessing you'd say something similar to those who choose to use iPhone as well - regarding value for their dollar. I like talking about the tech as much as anyone but after reading the last part of your second line all I can say is - Please troll elsewhere.

I got it for $76 but ended up turning it. It basically had all the apps I used every day (during my winter break when I didn't take any classes), but they worked so bad for me. Facebook, Messenger, and Instagram took me a crapload of time to load up (1st gen moto g takes 1/2 the time to load the same thing). Camera was supposed to be decent but software post processing killed 90% of photos taken.
For the price I paid, I shouldn't be complaining much about it, but then I feel much happier with my $60 Blu R1 HD as secondary phone. I do miss the W10m home screen. It looks nice with a background wallpaper.

Haha no problem. Sometimes the camera gives great photos, but I feel like the processing is too much. When I take close up photos of flowers in day light, they can be amazing.
But most of the time, no luck for me. Mostly because it almost always make photos reddish and blurry comparing to the instant before "auto enhancement" or something like that is done. Last year I got the 640 and turned it, thinking the camera performance was meh because it was a cheaper model. Now it turns out it's the same thing due to software. I actually like the front camera video performance a lot more than its still photos though because it shows no post processing.

Don't worry, we still love many aspects of the OS. The fact is that Microsoft's "retrenchment" strategy left a lot of us stranded, pushing out developers, making it increasingly difficult to get our hands on devices, etc.

Many of us have been singing our disdain for the retrenchment strategy, to be sure, but I still far prefer the WM UI a year into my experience with a Samsung Note 5.

I have been using WP10 as my primary device for a month. I think their are some good app in WP10 mobile too.

I am using Fly Reader as my ebook reader it support Microsoft TTS. The app is stable and completely free which no ads.

Manga Blaze is also cool for manga reader. No disruptive ads when reading the actual manga. Broken download feature so need online.

mAloud is also a handy internet browser with TTS support good for people learning a second or third language.

As regular reader would know i like my android phone but as a geek i also like to explore other platform. The positive is that WP10 phone are cheaper now do buy one to play with. Microsoft also release new firmware between months. Perfect for phone geek.

you fool, Microsoft is not in production since a year, so you/we cannot expect something otherwise. MSFT did not launched a single model yet they've managed to sell nearly a Million devices. It's huge and positive.

Windows lumia phones are good phones, great battery optimizations and even their old 950xl cameras are better than iphones and s8. The only reason their sales are crashing is because they don't run android. When you want sales, you want your phone to run the popular OS, if you want stability and don't mind having 200+ apps, then go windows.

This is no shock because people who want to buy a smart phone heard/Read that Microsoft is going to discontinue selling Lumia Brand smart phones. Microsoft smart phone fans and non Microsoft smart phone users are waiting to see Microsoft's new Surface smart phones. Folks I think That Microsoft has to debut their "Surface smart phones ASAP to keep Windows smart phones ALIVE because people want to buy what Microsoft itself supports. Microsoft must make at least 2 Microsoft Surface smart phones a low cost business model and a great flagship model to stay in Mobile smart phones

I hate how they title these articles about Windows phone
They haven't released a new Lumia ln a long time and make it seem crazy that aren't selling
Very little people look for a phone that was released almost two years ago
It's common sense asked are down smdh

Lumia brand mass destruction occured when Microsoft removed Nokia brand and killed everything great came from Nokia. Moreover, they didn't release any phone since over a year. They also stopped marketing those phones. How come sales numbers increased?!

the strongest OS is the one that most software developers enjoy with. cos they [dev] are standing on both side of users' interest and software plateform should be.
strongest phone is the one that give no sh!t to users, durable, resonable specs, repairable and company responsibilty.

The author makes it seem as if they're still being produced. Microsoft is not making any more phones for now and they announced the end of the Lumia line last year. Don't be holding your breaths thinking the mythical Surface Phone is going to come down from the heavens either. Windows 10 does not scale below 7" displays! It'll be a small tablet with voice/SMS capabilities and that's it. Windows 10 on ARM will be the same W10M you know but with the new shell. They will be convergence devices for Enterprise and consumers will be left with 3rd party OEMs like Alcatel and HP. Windows 10 Mobile will be more useful but don't expect any miracles. I'll still use it because it's what I like but I'm not blind to what's going on.

Be like BlackBerry, drop your lame personal OS and make it run Android with personal tweaks making it a beast phone like the BlackBerry Priv! They already have Cortana on Android, along with other Microsoft apps on the Play Store, so why not??

Android isn't the answer for everything. And remember - If the Blackberry Priv had sold better their hardware devision could very well be still in operation today. Blackberry is now making its way as a solid software company and not an Android OEM.

Oh, and I have yet to encounter one BB10 user saying that the OS is lame. Just my observation of course.

I believe that would be the best solution, or at least Microsoft will be able to sell way more phones. But then I personally think that it's good for me and many people that Microsoft keep making devices with Windows Phone , cuz we can buy cheap devices every year (last year I got a Lumia 640 for $40, and $40 for the 635 a year before that). Lumia 950 was like $300 on eBay or something. I mean, that's too darn good for people who want to experience something different.

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